1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for controlling a cleaning appliance and to a cleaning system which is to be suitable particularly for carrying out the proposed method. The proposed method and the proposed cleaning system can be employed for cleaning a multiplicity of articles. A particular focus for the present application is the cleaning of nursing appliances and hospital appliances which are contaminated with a large quantity of liquid waste or other types of waste (for example, excretions, soiling, ointment residues, etc.), in particular basin washers for cleaning bedpans, basins, urine bottles or the like.
2. Description of the Background Art
Cleaning systems for a multiplicity of articles to be cleaned are known from many areas of daily life, industry, natural sciences and medicine or the nursing sector. As examples which, however, do not restrict the possible range of use of the present invention, dishwashers may be mentioned which are used, for example, in the industrial sector as single-chamber or multi-chamber dishwashers. As a further example, cleaning devices for medical appliances may be mentioned, in which large liquid quantities occur as waste, for example basin washers for cleaning basins, bedpans, urine bottles, nighttime utensils or similar containers from the medical sector or nursing sector. Here and hereafter, “liquid waste” is accordingly to be understood as also meaning quantities of other waste, such as, for example, human or animal excretions, ointment residues or similar waste.
Many cleaning devices serve to clean articles which come into contact directly or indirectly with the human body and therefore may serve as transmitters of diseases, in particular infections, and in which therefore particular importance is placed on sufficient disinfection or on achieving a known degree of hygiene.
Measuring and ensuring a degree of hygiene or germ reduction are the subject matter of numerous known methods and standards. Thus, in particular, the relationship between temperature and time on germ reduction is the basis for regulations and standards which are to ensure the cleaning action in dishwashers. On the basis of tests which were conducted on multi-tank dishwashers, with the aim of defining the process parameters with which reliable hygienic treatment of the batch is achieved, a method was developed for Germany, by DIN 10510 C3, which gives a recommendation as to temperature, cleaner concentration and duration between the first contact of the batch to be cleaned with the washing liquid of the first washing zone and the leaving of the rinsing-clear zone. With these recommended parameters, the multi-chamber dishwasher is then operated in the individual zones of the method in order to achieve the required germ reduction during operation. The basis for the standard mentioned is the germ reduction of test bodies, soiled in a defined way, after the cleaning process via what are known as mark-off investigations. The test germ or test organism used in this test is E-faecium ATCC 6057.
In the USA, the relationship between temperature and time on germ reduction is described by the NSF3 standard method. The basis for this stipulation is the germ reduction, determined from tests, of tuberculosis bacteria by the action of temperature over time. The action of temperature over time is in this case designated as the “heat equivalent”. How many heat equivalents per second are achieved at which temperature is recorded in a table in this method. This table defines for dishwashers a minimum temperature for the washing water of the washing zone and of the rewashing zone which the dishwasher must reach in order to achieve the germ reduction required according to this standard.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,615,850 B1 discloses a method for operating a dishwasher, which comprises a continuous recording of the rewashing water temperature within the dishwasher and maintaining an optimal temperature. A cumulative heat equivalent (heat unit equivalent H.U.E.) is recorded, and the rewashing cycle is discontinued as soon as a stipulated H.U.E. value is reached.
According to the prior art, therefore, in conventional dishwashers and other cleaning devices a correspondingly preconfigured washing program is selected by the washing personnel. For example, an operator actuates corresponding keys and/or switches. Achieving the cleaning result and/or an envisaged germ reduction is assumed by means of appropriate parameterization for a very broad range of use and, if appropriate is confirmed in type tests and/or validations.
The known cleaning devices and cleaning methods, however, have the disadvantage that, as a rule, they function unspecifically with regard to the germs or pathogens actually present. Thus, for example, the batch is acted upon with a permanently stipulated thermal equivalent which, for example, can be selected so as to be sufficiently high to largely kill common pathogens or germs. As a rule, in this case, an “overkill” is adopted, since the estimated thermal equivalents, as a rule, are set high enough to kill all common types of germs. However, particularly in the area of industrial use with high batch throughputs, this entails high environmental pollution and an increased energy consumption, with the result that the operating costs and the environmental compatibility of cleaning devices of this type in many instances leave much to be desired. If, by contrast, the estimated thermal equivalent value is set too low, there is the risk that many germs are not killed and the batch may thus become a transmitter of infections.